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Urban Greens Council Meeting, 7-13-08

Present: Noah, Bridget, Max, Cassie, Craig, Hilary

Next Meeting: Second week of August (Max will Meeting Wizard us)

Tasks:
Craig will check the urbangreens@gmail.com email address, and write minutes
Max will set up a few UG emails through website
Office hours: Bridget will make reminder calls
Cassie will set up meeting on 1577 with Spurwink and WBNA, and also United Way meeting
Bridget will look into a few alternative spaces, including old Daily Bead, the new place across from Julian’s, etc.

Committee Updates:
Membership and Communications
No updates since minutes from last meeting
Tabling opportunity: Hilary will have a tent at Armory Farmers Market on July 17th and 24th for her massage business; we can table in tent, Craig will go 17th, need volunteers
Member-Owner list: 88 paid members, about $10K in equity, about $3K owed on payment plans (Thank you Cassie!)
We decided to hold off on buying Constant Contact for one month, until we have a full treasurer’s report and make sure we have enough money.

Storefront
No updates since last minutes distributed
Layout is done
Working on pricing of equipment and systems
Business plan still a work n progress
WIC: There are new rules are WIC compliancy, Noah will keep us updated so we can try to be WIC store
d. Bylaws: revising/approving – item for future council meeting.

Office Hours:
July 19: Open
July 26: Max
Aug 2: Hilary (?)
Aug 9: Bridget
Aug 16: Cassie (?)
Aug 23: Craig

General Meeting:
Will hold in October, also serve as Annual Meeting
Membership and Communications: Mailing to members at least 30 days in advance of meting
Agenda to include
Elections to council
Decisions on location

Building Update
Short version of where we are with WBNA and 1577 Westminster: Condo play for 1577 not going to work, WBNA is looking to partner with Spurwink RI, a service and residential organization for adults with developmental disabilities. Spurwink has $1.1 million from HUD for 10 units of housing, would take over project at 1577, sell first floor to WBNA as a condo, who would then rent to Urban Greens.
Many questions: would there be guarantee Spurwink would sell to WBNA? A locked in affordable price? Will the building remain essentially green design? What would happen to grant funds slated for UG/WBNA? Would there be a basement? Timeline? (looks like earliest for project completion would be lat 2009, our opening would be at earliest early 2010)
Pluses: More storage space for UG; parking situation improves: maybe resident could be volunteers for UG store.
Next Step: Meeting with WBNA, Spurwink and UW to se where things stand
Obligation of Council: our duty/responsibility is to our member-owners, to open a retail food coop. Investigate this and alternatives to decide what is in best interest of our member-owners, to that end. Due diligence necessary for all options.
We decided that by October General Membership Meeting, we will have a commendation for the membership: stick with 1577 and Spurwink idea, or rent/buy a new location.